The Irish standard., 1887-10-15
FIR. BURKE IN THE PULPIT.
The Subject OF His First Dis
course Was the Re-
ligious Life.
EVERYBODY WAS FASCINATED.
It Was a Discourse That Being Heard
Must Be Embedded in Memory
For a Lifetime.

Young Burke was, in the innocent
sense of the word, q wild boy, given to
practical Jokes and little hair Drained
escapades, but as versatile as quicksil
yer; pure as snow. From his earliest
youth literature, and the best lltera-
ture, was devoured by him with an in
satiable appetite, beginning with the
little catechism patronized in the do
cese of Galway, ascending one line to
the Summa of st. Thomas. on the 9th
er to Gibbon, Tennyson and Shakes
peare. His earliest ambition was TO
sway the reasons aud affections OF his
fellow men from the Christian pulpit.
When only about seventeen years OF
age he entered the Dominican Novlti-
ate at Perugia. The tall and somewhat
ungainly lad, with his sun stained face
and quick, flashing eye, attracted the
notice and esteem of Father Jandel,
the General Of his Order. The study
Of Aquinas naturally occupied very
high position in the seminary presided
over by one who afterwards became
known to Christendom as Cardinal Fec
ci and Pope Leo XIII, whose very first
encyclical on the feast OF St. Thomas
was devoted to an assertion. OF the
claims on Christian thought Of the
system of the greatest OF the
schoolmen. Burke assinailated AQuinas
not only with extraordinary rapid
1y, but with extraordinary relish
Before his enraptured eye Christi
anity rose in colossal unity from
the strong, majestic conception en-
bodied in the first pages OF the
',5umma de Salvatore ct Salvatione
Priusqua1n de salvatione de Salvatore
ipso consideranda veniunt.' 10 Burke
those intertangled concateuations ot.
propositions. those apparently inter
minable doubts and solutions were
traversed by lanes of light with depths
of golden sky beyond. To Rabelais the
ssSumma" appeared as vast territory
OF sandy desert, furrowed with lnces-
SAINT toll by ploughs drawn by foxes.
Burke, like Zebulon of old, could S'suck
Of treasures hid in the sand.'' The
novice startled the master by saying
that "when one reads the 'Summa'
ones faith was gone" But surprise
and apprehension were exchanged for
pleasure as the lad explained his mean'
iug-when the intellect once fairly
grasped the augmentation it stood
out distinct as articulated in its constlt-
uent portions, and clear as q, consistent
whole-when the minds eye could take
in the apt disposition of a vast number
of topics capable of reference to COM
mon center, mystery was changed into
translucent certitude, and faith was al
most lost in sight. When Burke was
twenty-o -one the General of the Domini-
can Order appointed the young sub
deacon to be master of the English nov
ices at Woodchester. Burke took up-
speakable pains with his English style
At first, every word. every ''and' and
''but," every particle, was vigorously
committed to memory. Those who, IN
1s51-52, saw the sensitive lad, trem-
bling in every limb with nervous excite
ment, speaking with eyes shut, might
we'll be astonished at the magnificent
success when the long agony Of years of
preparation was over, a very compe-
tent judge thus describes the result
eight or ten years later:
t'The fitting moment for the sermon
had arrived, when 4 kneeling figure
rose from it's kneeling posture before
the altar and strobe with a quiet maj
esty to its appointed place on the plat
form. The figure was draped in the
white and black of the Dominican hab
it. The sanctuary was filed with q re-
ligious light which just revealed d tom
sured head, fringed by a ring of thick
black locks that surmounted a dark
and sun stained face, with features that
were eloquent OF strength and power,
and with eyes that kindled into flame
as their gaze seemed to center Oh the
glories of an unseen world. The preach
er spoke. The subject Of his discourse
was the religious life. The chapel was
small, and his voice never rose above
whisper, but every whisper thrilled The
nerves of his hearers. ALI were faci-
mated. He spoke of the beauty
and purity and perfection of a re-
ligious life; he showed how 1t tended
to raise man, even III the life below, al
most to level with the angels; he ex-
pounded, with marvellous lucidity, the
meaning Of the VOWS religious take,
and explained their bearing on the holy
state; and with a fervid peroration that